1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fish scaling apparatus for removing the scales of a quantity of fish and, more particularly, to fish-scaling apparatus for scaling fish, including a rotatable, fish-receiving drum having an internal, helical, abrasive scaling strip for scaling a batch of fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fish scalers have been provided heretofore, including rotatable mesh drums such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,331,855 and 2,355,405 issued to M. P. Vucassovich on Oct. 12, 1943 and Aug. 8, 1944 respectively; U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,605, issued to Lloyd G. Burns on Oct. 23, 1973; U.S. Pat. No. 3,304,574, issued to P. D. Ham, et al, on Feb. 21, 1967; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,860,371 issued to R. M. Krull on Nov. 18, 1958. The prior art fish-scaling devices typically include a mesh-type drum having a continuous cylindrical mesh which extends the full length and entire circumferential extent of the drum. One prior art scaling device comprises an upright washtub type fish-cleaning device which is not well suited for high volume scaling operations. Such continuous mesh drum scalers are not completely effective. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide fish-scaling apparatus which includes a fish-scaling drum including an internal surface comprising a helical fish scaling abrasive surface to remove scales. The abrasive strip will also aid in axially propelling fish thereon axially downstream.
As the drum is rotated, the fish will be partially rotated by the drum, and after being lifted or rotated through a portion of the revolution of the rotating drum, the fish will slide and tumble downwardly toward the lower end of the drum. It has been found that by elevating the fish-supply end relative to the opposite fish-discharge end, as the fish fall and tumble, they will more rapidly slide forwardly and will progressively move from the upstream end to the downstream end of the drum as it is being rotated and tumbled. By interspersing a smooth spiral strip with an abraded spiral strip, the fish, as they encounter a portion of the smooth spiral strip, will axially slide along the smooth spiral strip and, upon reaching a portion of the abrasive strip, will encounter resistance to axial movement and be "flipped over" so that the opposite side of the fish will be abraded by the abrasive strip portion which they contact.
Another object of the present invention is to provide fish-scaling apparatus including a rotatable fish-scaling drum including an internal surface provided with a smooth spiral strip and an adjacent denticulated spiral strip.
At least some of the prior art devices require an attendant to serially feed the fish to the machine. Another concern in processing fish is to insure the complete removal of scales, particularly from the bellies and backs. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide fish-scaling apparatus which will substantially remove all of the scales from a fish, including both sides, the belly and the back.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of circumferentially and axially staggered, perimetrically-disposed, radially inwardly extending paddles or wedge members which include axially-spaced abrading surfaces that converge in the direction of rotation. These paddles serve to reorient the fish, and the abrasive surfaces thereon serve to abrade the bellies and backs of the fish to enhance the cleaning thereof.
The denticulated spiral strip includes a plurality of small inwardly-disposed, spaced-apart projections. It has been found that, whereas projections of a predetermined length and spacing might serve to scale a fish of a particular size with particular scales, such projections optimally are of different length and spacing for another size fish with different size scales, for example. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a drum-type fish-scaling device including a drum internally mounting a replaceable scale-removing shell comprising detachable semi-cylindrical shell segments, particularly adapted for scaling fish of a given size, which can be easily removed and replaced by another shell adapted to scale fish of a different size.
After a batch of fish have been scaled, it is desirable to rapidly remove the fish so that another batch of fish may be deposited in the drum for scaling. This is accomplished by lowering the discharge end of the fish-scaling drum so that the fish will more rapidly slide toward a discharge opening provided thereon. It is another object of the present invention to provide new and novel frame mechanism for swingably mounting the drum-type scaling apparatus on the main frame, and mechanism selectively swinging the apparatus to any one of a plurality of different positions.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a fish scaling apparatus of the type described, including new and novel apparatus for removal of the dislodged scales.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.